Ladder



(No Model.)

F. S. SEAGRAVE.

LADDER.

Patented May 22,1883.

proved ladder.

showing the method of constructing each leg- UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

FREDERIG S. SEAGRAVE, OF ROCHESTER, MICHIGAN.

LADDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 278,051, dated May 22,1883.

Application filed November 8, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERIG S. SEAGRAVE, of Rochester, inthe county ofOakland and State of Michigan, have invented new and usefulIm provementsin -Ladders and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part of this specification.

The nature of this invention relates to certain new and usefulimprovements in ladders, bymeans of which a'very light, strong, anddurable ladder is constructed.

The invention consists in the peculiar construction of parts and theircombination, as more fully hereinafter described.

Figure l is a perspective view of my im- Fig. 2 is a side elevation,

of the ladder, with its truss, from a single piece of lumber.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Arepresents the legs of a ladder, which arejoined together by the roundsB in the usual manner. 0 is the truss with which each leg is provided,and D are the struts.

The peculiarity of this ladder is in the construction of the legs andtrusses. In Fig. 2 there is shown a straight piece of timber, of thedesired length of the ladder, near one end, and at the rear end of thispiece thereis bored at small hole, a, through which a saw is inserted,which cuts the saw-kerf b, which extends nearly to the opposite end ofthis piece of timber. This rear piece thus partially de- 'tached fromthe main piece ofthe leg is thinner than and forms an integral part oftheleg itself, and bolts 0 are inserted through the leg from front torear, just at the ends of the sawkerf, to prevent splitting at thatpoint. The two legs being thus prepared, and being joined together bythe rounds, the struts are inserted between the leg proper and thetruss, the longer one at a nearly-central position between the two ends,and the shorter ones intermediate between the longer strut and the endsof the legs, and these struts are secured in posiladders; and I am alsoaware that light andvery strong ladders are made which are trussed withwire, which makes them more expensive in construction and less firm thanwhen made as I have before described, for such wire trusses willstretch, or, to use a technical phrase, give and take-'-a fault which isentirely avoided by my construction.

An ordinary painters ladder twenty-five feet long requires sixty feet oflumber to construct it, while an equally strong but much lighter laddercan be made, by the construction herein described, of the same lengthwith lifteen feet of lumber.

What I claim as my invention is l. The combinatioiuin aladder, oftherounds B and legs A, each leg being provided with a kerf, I), back ofits center, and extending nearly to the ends thereof, forming a thinback or brace, 0, whereby the front A, or leg proper, is leftsufliciently thick for, the insertion of the rounds B, as set forth.

2. A ladder constructed of sides or legs A, having a brace, (l, formedby a kerf. I), in the leg, back of its center, as shown and described,rounds B, struts D, and bolts 0, all constructed and arrangedsubstantially as shown and described.

FREDERIG S. SEAGRAVE.

Witnesses:

H. S. SPR-AGUE,

' A. BARTHEL.

